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North Carolina Modernist Houses (NCMH) will conclude its 2015-2016 MoHo Realty Architecture Movie Series with a double feature on Thursday, February 4, in the James B. Hunt Library auditorium, beginning at 7:30 p.m.

The first film will be the 30-minute, multi-award-winning documentary “Archiculture,” a thoughtful yet critical look at the architectural studio. Directed by Ian Harris and David Krantz, the film offers a revealing glimpse into the world of studio-based design education through the eyes of a group of students finishing their final design projects. Interviews with leading professionals, historians, and educators help create crucial dialogue around the key issues faced by this unique teaching methodology as well as the built environment these future architects will create. (View the trailer here.)

The second film is an animated short by Torill Kove entitled “Me and My Moulton.” In this witty film set in 1960s Norway, a seven-year-old girl asks her hopelessly out-of-touch Modernist parents for a bicycle, but the unconventional ways of this architect couple soon produce comical embarrassment and anxiety. It was nominated for a 2015 Academy Award. (View the trailer here.)

A Special Treat: NCMH suggests movie-goers arrive early the see a rare exhibit provided by the Special Collections Research Center at the NC State University Libraries: a collection of Modernist architectural drawings created by noted North Carolina modernists John Latimer, George Matsumoto, and James Fitzgibbon.

Doors open at 7 pm. Tickets are $10 at the door. NCMH’s Mod Squad members are admitted free until capacity is reached. The first 100 NCSU students with their student IDs will also get in free. NCSU Friends of the Library members receive 10 percent off tickets with their Friends of the Library cards.

Sarah Sonke of MoHo Realty has sponsored the entire 2015-16 series. Other sponsors include VMZinc, The Kitchen Specialist, and Hill Country Woodworks of Chapel Hill.

The James B. Hunt Jr. Library Auditorium is located on NC State University’s Centennial Campus at 1070 Partners Way, Raleigh. Free parking is available.

For more information on NCMH and the MoHo Realty Architecture Movie Series, visit www.ncmodernist.org.

Harmon has been an active advocate for NCMH’s mission to document, preserve, and promote Modernist residential design across the state since Executive Director George Smart founded the award-winning non-profit in 2007.

Over recent years, NCMH’s reach has expanded well outside North Carolina. The Paul Rudolph Heritage Foundation in New York City designated NCMH’s online archive as the official index for Rudolph’s residential work. Smart has addressed the National Trust for Historic Preservation and given presentations during Modernism Week in Palm Springs, California. The entire NCMH archive has also become the largest open digital archive of 20-century Modernist residential design in the nation, including an extensive Masters Gallery.

So when Harmon officially retired in November 2015 after 50 years in professional practice, Smart approached him about joining NCMH in an official capacity.

“Frank is very well known and respected throughout the architectural community, including on the national stage,” Smart said. “As a sought-after speaker, lecturer, and design awards jury chairman nation-wide, his contacts and influences are invaluable.”

He explained Harmon’s responsibilities as Director of National Affairs: “Frank will coordinate with national architecture organizations, publications, and other non-profits to focus attention on North Carolina Modernism and to further develop documentation, preservation, and promotion for NCMH. And with Frank’s participation, NCMH will create some of the best infrastructure for Modernist house documentation and preservation in the country.”

“NCMH is like an embassy for good design and I’m proud to be one of its ambassadors,” Harmon said.

Jacquelyn Jordan’s dog Ana relaxes in the living room of Jordan’s 1951 modernist home in Raleigh, N.C.

By Martha Waggoner, Associated Press

A 1950s two-bedroom home in a neighborhood just outside downtown might not seem special at first glance, but this North Carolina house has been placed on the National Register of Historic Places as a superb example of midcentury modern in a neighborhood known for the architectural style.

Jacquelyn Jordan, a school principal who bought the home in Raleigh’s Cameron Village, says she wasn’t that impressed when she saw the house from the outside in 1998. “But I went inside, and I just loved it. I loved the big rooms and the big windows. I walked into the backyard, and I really fell in love with it.”

Fans of modernist architecture estimate that North Carolina — particularly the Triangle area of Raleigh, Durham and Chapel Hill — has the third-largest collection of modernist homes in the country after Los Angeles and New York’s Long Island.

George Smart, executive director of North Carolina Modernist Houses, bases the estimate on his research, which shows the Triangle area of North Carolina with 700 to 800 modernist homes. Statewide, he estimates North Carolina has 1,200 to 1,300 of the homes. READ MORE…

Another architectural gem could be lost if the right buyer doesn’t come along. Soon.

Fleishman house corner detail.

January 4, 2015 (Fayetteville, NC) — Unless a buyer comes forward who appreciates its historic value and can see past years of neglect, the mid-century modern Fleishman house at 2614 Morganton Road in Fayetteville, NC, will be demolished. Vacant for at least four years, the house is now listed for sale as a teardown.

North Carolina Modernist Houses (NCMH), the award-winning non-profit organization dedicated to documenting, preserving, and promoting Modernist residential design from the 1940s to today, is issuing a national alert to help save the 2801-square-foot house that architect Edward Loewenstein designed for Ruth and A.M. Fleishman in 1951. At its own expense, NCMH commissioned an inspection report.

“The house has suffered deterioration, of course,” said NCMH director George Smart, “but it is recoverable. The inspection report clearly states that a good contractor could make all of the repairs. Nothing is beyond hope at this time. With the right buyer, this house could be saved and become another stellar example of mid-century Modernist design. We’re hoping he or she will keep North Carolina from losing another of these architectural gems.”

The Fleishman house is a bi-level brick home with three bedrooms, two and a half baths, two fireplaces, a sunroom, an enclosed porch, a stone patio, and a carport. Beneath the sweeping butterfly roof are large expanses of glass that open the interior to the outdoors, which is typical for mid-century Modern houses. Also typical is the open floor plan and reappearance of exterior materials on the interior. Outside, brick retaining walls form planters in the landscape.

The architect contributes to the house’s value. Originally from Chicago, Edward Loewenstein joined Robert A. Atkinson Jr. in Greensboro to form Loewenstein-Atkinson. The firm’s work was featured in the New York Times, Architectural Record, Good Housekeeping, and Southern Architect, among many other publications. Loewenstein-Atkinson was also the first white architecture firm in North Carolina to hire black architects.

NCMH has helped save many mid-20th-century Modernist houses in North Carolina by maintaining free listings of available homes on its website, by working with the owners to make sure their selling prices aren’t unrealistic, and by paying to have appraisals, inspections, and other reports ready for potential buyers. The Fleishman house’s documents, including a link to the MLS listing, are available at http://ncmodernist.org/forsale.